ATHABASCA — A win in labour disputes can be rare for the workers, but it is important to recognize even small victories, and with Athabasca University (AU) deciding to back away from designation for the Athabasca University Faculty Association (AUFA) this is a win, says union president David Powell.
In an interview last week, Powell said it’s important to embrace the news that AU is backing away from the idea to shuffle members from AUFA to other unions, though the situation is not yet fully resolved.
"Designation remains as a law and designation remains as a policy however, the status quo, which we've been working to retain, appears to be the current plan to the university, until effectively there's a change in the administration,” said Powell. “And then when a new president comes in, we'll see what the political context is.”
With a little over three months until current president Neil Fassina leaves for his new job at Okanagan College Apr. 1 there is some speculation, but little information, as to who will take over his position in March.
“They don't have any practice of hiring internal candidates,” Powell said. “I can't think of any high profile exits from universities and because we're mid-size University — nobody expected Peter McKinnon — Neil Fassina was kind of considered a sort of out-of-left-field candidate. I had never heard his name before; he was Provost at NAIT. But nonetheless, he quit to take this job so, there's administrators everywhere, it's hard to tell.”
Regardless of who replaces Fassina, the current battle is a case study in what unions can accomplish if they stick together, said Powell.
“The fact that this was defeated through I would say, a united, a strong response from our membership, and then the togetherness and solidarity with AUPE (Alberta Union of Provincial Employees) and CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) and then finally faculty associations around the country, standing up to tell the university that they would not recommend sending students to AU unless they respected AUFA’s wishes to maintain its current membership was astonishing,” he said.
AUPE and CUPE both stood to gain members if AU chose to move them out of AUFA, so Powell is grateful.
“They recognized that this was a divide and conquer tactic and they would go after them next,” he said. “And also, who wants a flood of 100 angry members? So, not only did they stand with us, and we all met and constantly coordinated on this, but then we refused to meet with the university without all three groups in the room, which the university hated."
Powell noted this win did not come from the bargaining table or through the Alberta Labour Board in an untested appeal mechanism or through the court system, but by the actions of working academics who saw the benefits of keeping the status quo.
“(AUFA) are going to be going into bargaining and attempt to get language that prevents involuntary designation in our contract, which means that their policy can say it wants, but our contract will over rule,” he said. “And that's our ultimate goal; until the university has signed an agreement with us that they will not remove our members, this issue remains a live issue no matter their intention.”
